Slayer is one of the most important skills in Old School RuneScape, and leveling it will undoubtedly prepare your account for the endgame.

While it is one of the slowest skills in the game, it's also something that goes up passively over time. Often, you'll get levels without even realizing it.

Of course, on paper, Slayer is simply the act of killing monsters and gaining XP. Though in practice, there's a lot more going on under the surface, and you'll end up traversing the entire world of Gielinor to unlock its secrets.

This guide will cover the most important points to help get you from level 1 to level 99 Slayer.

Combat Level & Quests

Before you even attempt Slayer on a new account, it makes more sense to increase your combat level as much as you can. Higher levels in your combat abilities mean you'll be able to kill monsters faster and use higher-level Slayer Masters.

While efficiency isn't exactly crucial for Slayer, starting the grind later in your journey will make it a faster experience overall.

Focus on key quests that give combat XP early on, like Waterfall Quest, Fight Arena, and The Grand Tree. These will give a healthy boost to your combat abilities very early on in your account.

Dwarf Cannon is also a useful quest for unlocking the use of a cannon, which, though expensive to use, will become key for later Slayer training.

Where to Begin

The first thing you will want to do on your Slayer journey is complete the Varrock Museum Miniquest. Simply by answering questions about various creatures inhabiting Gielnor's vast landmass, you will earn 1000 XP, enough to take you from 1-9 Slayer.

The beginning levels of Slayer are incredibly slow, due to the poor tasks that Slayer Masters of that level give, so any free XP is very much welcome.

You can also complete A Porcine of Interest for another free 1000 XP and a little introduction to the skill if you are feeling a little confused.

At this point, you are going to want to focus on getting those combat levels up. I recommend a fast and easy AFK-friendly experience, such as using sand crabs or ammonite crabs to train.

While you're wearing armor, they will very rarely hit you, and they have a lot of Hitpoints, so you can AFK for long periods while you do other things like watch a series or even work.

When you reach around 70 Combat, prioritizing your Melee and Magic levels, you can officially start Slaying. Of course, you can start earlier than this, but it will be a very slow process.

Slayer Points

Every time you complete a Slayer task, you will earn a certain amount of points depending on which Master you use. These points can be turned in for various helpful rewards that will expedite the leveling process and unlock various useful new abilities.

The jump from Vannaka to Chaeldar is from 4 points per task to 10 points per task. This is another reason why we don't start Slayer until 70 Combat.

Remember when I talked about Dwarf Cannon and Desert Treasure 1 earlier in this guide? Well, this is why.

Using a cannon in a multi-combat area will drastically increase the number of monsters you kill per hour while giving you a tonne of ranged XP.

The cannonballs may be a little pricey, but they are worth it for the time that you save.

Great tasks for this include Dagannoths, Ice Trolls, and Suqahs.

Similarly, using Ice Burst or Ice Barrage against monsters in multi-combat areas like The Catacombs of Kourend is a fantastic way to race through tasks and spawn a bunch of superiors.

You will want to focus on tasks like Jellies, Dust Devils, Smoke Devils, and Nechryaels for the best XP and chance of spawning superiors.

While this may be a costly activity, you will get a remarkable amount of Slayer XP and Magic XP with this method. In addition, many of the drops help mitigate the cost of your spells.

Once you've learned how to Burst correctly, the levels will fly by, and 99 will be within your sights.

Block List and Task Skipping

Of course, not all tasks are created equal. Sometimes you will get a task that is horrendously slow, or just boring, and you'll think, I really can't be bothered doing that. For that, we have the Block List.

In short, by spending points at a Slayer Master, you can remove a task option from their pool of choices. This can be done a maximum of 7 times for a total of 700 points.

The key here is blocking tasks that are single-target and that have a high "Task Weight". The task weight is a number that determines how often a task is going to be given.

Of course, this list can be personalized depending on whether you like to AFK or get the maximum XP per hour.

Popular block options include Hellhounds, Greater Demons, Metal Dragons, and Spiritual Creatures.

Alternatively, if your Block List is full, you can also skip a task for 30 points. This is useful for tasks that you don't hate enough to be on the list, but still don't enjoy doing.

Commonly skipped tasks include Aberrant Spectres, Elves, and Mutated Zygomytes, among others.

Slayer Items

Finally, some items are crucial for any budding slayers who are looking to seriously invest in the skill. These will make the leveling experience a lot smoother.

If you have OSRS gold and OSRS items, you're well-equipped to optimize your Slayer grind. Investing in powerful gear like the Dwarf Cannon and Slayer Helm will make the journey much faster and more rewarding. Tracking your progress and blocking inefficient tasks will keep the grind efficient, and soon enough, you'll be on your way to 99 Slayer.